


The Longest Distance Between Two Places

by TawnyLocke



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode s03e04 Good D, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 14:29:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5970352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TawnyLocke/pseuds/TawnyLocke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zero's path in LA begins with Jude.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Longest Distance Between Two Places

**Author's Note:**

> Will likely become an AU once the next episode airs. Ah, the challenge of writing for something that is ongoing.

**BEFORE**

When Jude had walked into that bar during the first attempt to recruit him to the Devils, Zero had done a quick assessment: hot as fucking hell, but has no real idea how hot he was and how to use it, desperate to get noticed, prepared with plans A to Z, and probably liked dick. Jude was smooth and calculated during that first attempt, but soon realized that wasn't the way to get Zero to pay attention. Their next meeting was in a strip club, the classy kind that prized discretion. Zero hadn't even known about this club, which was a shock to him, but apparently the clientele was usually older, more established, and looked down on their noses at new money. Jude had only gotten them in due to his father.

"Your father recommended this club?"

"Yeah." Jude probably didn't even realize how much his voice gave away with that answer, and Zero filed that for future reference.

"Sounds like a good father-son relationship," Zero said, going for funny, but failing by the way Jude didn't quite succeed in hiding a wince.

"He said it was a burlesque club, not a tacky strip joint." Jude waved down one of the waitresses to get their drinks. Zero looked around and saw the little differences here and there: low lighting, no bright colors, the women in corsets and skirts and high heels. The music was low enough that it actually allowed for conversation, and the stage looked like it was lit with candles.

"What's the difference?"

Jude turned around with a self-effacing smile. "Class."

Zero rolled his eyes. "That's such fucking bullshit."

"I didn't say I agreed. But hey, we can talk here and I can tell you why you should move to Los Angeles."

Zero made it a point to grin with all his teeth showing. "Not without a lap dance first. I need to sample the wares."

Jude had already rolled his eyes and realized his mistake in doing that in front of a potential client, but Zero found himself charmed by it. "Jude," he said, "the quality of the lap dance I get is going to indicate how much money you actually want to throw my way to get me to move to LA."

Jude nodded and signaled to someone, and in a few minutes, four incredibly beautiful women lined up in front of Zero. Zero slid down his seat for maximum grinding opportunities, his shirt sliding up to show a few inches of his stomach. He caught Jude's eye sliding down there like it was magnetized.

Gotcha, Jude, he thought. He picked the two brunettes and enjoyed the ride. He didn't anticipate Jude leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Imagine this," Jude said, and if Zero was a weaker man he would have shivered, "but ten times the options. But even better than that, there's something brewing at the Devils. If you ever wanted to lead, the opportunities are there for you to take."

Zero turned his head and to Jude's credit, he didn't back down. They were close enough that Zero could see Jude's eyes, all pupil due to the low lighting.

"I'm listening," he said, and was rewarded by one of Jude's smiles.

Jude was so efficient then that his first visit to Jude's agency in LA weeks later was an eye-opening one. He knew that Jude was a junior agent at best, but he didn't realize how junior, because Jude didn't even have an office yet, and he wasn't quick enough in throwing away the Starbucks paper tray for a coffee run he'd probably just done. Their meeting was in the conference room.

"Sorry, sorry," Jude said, and sat down. "Got tied up there with a couple of things."

You're good, Zero thought, but not that good. He had been fooled by Jude's connection to the owner of the Devils and was on the verge of signing on, but didn't realize that his agent was pretty much a newbie both coasting on and silently resentful of his father's name.

"Who are your five biggest clients?" he asked, not mincing any words. "I just want names."

Jude was visibly surprised but seemed to rally quickly enough. "Tyson Carter, Cadence Freeman, Siri Takkinen, Omar Jones, and Fernando Montenegro."

"Guy who keeps going in and out of the DL list in basketball, a girl who can't break the top 10 in tennis and chokes by the quarterfinal, some gymnast who'll be bronze medalist in a competition, a football player who's going to be in Dancing With the Stars while his team's playing the season, and a second rate soccer player who's only famous because he was in a homemade porn video. Did I get any wrong?" He looked at Jude, who to his credit again, wasn't backing down.

"Just because the world wants to give up on them, or for them to give up," Jude said, "doesn't mean that I will. They're good athletes who just need someone to believe in them. Give them a second chance."

Zero stood up and walked around the room, looking at Jude now and again. This agency was one of the biggest and best in the industry, and Jude wouldn't be making moves on his own without senior agents watching his every move. His current agent was some Ari Emanuel wannabe who thought Entourage was inspirational viewing, intentionally burned out his assistants so that he could get a pretty one every six months, and spewed shit like a broken sewer line. All Zero could pick up from Jude was sincerity. And hotness, but mostly sincerity.

"If we go forward with this, and I'm not saying we are," Zero said, "I'm gonna hold you to what you just said about your top five."

"That's a given," Jude said. Zero had never wanted to fuck him more than that moment, and if he'd had any sense, he would have stopped that thought right there.

 

**DURING**

He didn't stop that thought right there.

Not when he gave Jude a car.  

> He fantasized about giving Jude a blowjob while driving, or maybe laying Jude out on the hood of the car in the middle of the night to rim him. Maybe 69 each other on it too. Or better yet, Jude could ride him in the driver's seat.

Not when Jude kissed him in the limousine.  

> He'd almost hated Jude then, because he didn't want a taste. Now that he had, it was all he could think about. It poisoned everyone else, made them seem contaminated somehow. Yeah, that girl was hot and he could probably fuck her, but she probably wouldn't have kissed him as gently as Jude did. That model had an amazing body, but his hands were all wrong and he probably wouldn't have touched Zero the way Jude had, as if he was something that needed to be treasured and protected.

Or when Jude almost went to the party to meet up with some photographer's assistant, who wasn't even that attractive.  

> Jude was like a newborn calf, all instinct and awkward movement, and Zero was touched by that in ways he didn't want to look at too deeply. It was clear he was Jude's first guy -- no one could fake that. He sweated like a motherfucker during sex and Zero wanted to chase every drop, and in the times after, he did, and discovered Jude's ticklish spots along the way.
> 
> That first night, they went at it for hours. Jude was starved for it, making up for lost time, and Zero did what he could to hang on and give him as much as he could take.

Not when he overheard Jude and Derek figuring out what to do with illegal drugs.  

> A weapon, locked and loaded, basically idiot-proof. He chose to bury it instead.

Or that heartbreaking time when Jude sat broken in his apartment, disowned by his father.  

> Zero had done the best he could, but he couldn't fight a lifetime of bad parenting. Between the two of them, he thought, they would probably be very good fathers, because they both knew what not to do to screw up your kid.
> 
> He wanted to reach back. He did, in his own way and in his own terms, but he knew that it wasn't quite what Jude was looking for that night.

Not when Jude demanded he basically give up everything he had worked so hard for just to be some fucking poster boy for gays.  

> "God, I'm not asking you to be a poster boy," Jude had yelled in one of their aborted conversations after, his voice staticky over the phone. "I just want someone to say they're with me and not be so ashamed of it."
> 
> "It's not that simple, and you know it." Zero had almost thrown the phone out in frustration. "The world has changed, but it hasn't changed that much. Nothing is worth the shit I'd have to deal with."
> 
> "Thank you for making your point so clearly." Jude's tone was icy, and Zero didn't realize what he'd said until Jude had responded, but by the time he could say something back, Jude had already hung up. He had sent flowers because he had no other ideas at the time, not that it did much to thaw anything.

Or when he offered Jude to be his agent again.  

> He missed Jude and he was getting pretty desperate, even if he didn't want to admit it. He had asked the photographer for a session with just him, and he had pictures taken where he was completely naked except for crumpled underwear he put over his cock. He sent those proofs to Jude with a Post-It note saying 'Calvin Klein can eat shit and die' and what he got back was one picture where Jude had drawn crab legs and pincers on the underwear. Zero had laughed for what felt like hours.

Not after That Time in the Closet.  

> Zero had wanted the world to burn just then, and see Jelena and Terrence burn along with it. Maybe himself too, he wasn't sure anymore.

Not when Jude laid everything out on the line again, and he had said no.  

> His relationship with Jude was filled with almost. He almost took back the 'no.' He almost ran after him. He could almost forget how amazing it felt when Jude said 'I love you' back. It didn't feel like what he'd read in books or saw in movies. What it felt like was rest, like a constantly coiled and tense muscle finally relaxing, all tension disappearing, like he could finally just _be_.

Not after he kissed Jude in front of live cameras in a stadium full of people.  

> What the fuck did I just do, he thought. And then he looked at Jude's face, hopeful and proud and hesitantly happy, and couldn't find it himself to regret it. Maybe that would come later. Actually, it would come later, he knew, in bits and spells that would cause ugly fights. He has never been afraid of hard work though. He wouldn't be here now if he was.
> 
> He wrapped his arms around Jude's solid body and lost himself in the moment.

Here's to the future. There was no point in stopping now.

 

**AFTER**

The adrenaline rush had disappeared, and Zero was faced with the reality of his new status. He was front page news on almost all websites and #zeroisgay was trending everywhere.

ZERO SHOOTS AND SCORES

BASKETBALL PLAYER ZERO CAUSES CONTROVERSY WITH SAME-SEX KISS  

ZERO'S TIP DRILL

JUDE KINKADE, THE GAY WORLD SALUTES YOU. YOUR TOASTER IS ARRIVING BY UPS EXPRESS OVERNIGHT, BITCH!

IT'S TIME FOR GAY ATHLETES EVERYWHERE TO TAKE ZERO'S LEAD

He stood on his balcony overlooking Los Angeles, feeling slightly adrift. The reporters had taken a break from their legal stalking for the night, and for the first time, Zero could hear himself think. He felt Jude's arms wrap around him, and he let his neck lean back on Jude's shoulder.

"I still can't believe what you did," Jude said. His voice was whisper quiet.

"It was easier than I thought it would be," Zero replied.

They didn't speak, let the silence settle around them. Lost in the lights in Los Angeles at 3:00 in the morning.

"What do you want to happen now?" Zero asked, afraid of the answer. He didn't know if he had anything left to give.

"This. Just this, for as long as possible."

They stayed on the balcony, in each other's arms. Comfortable in the quiet, surveying everything around them.

"Let's go to bed," Jude said, and Zero let himself be led. When they were close to the bed, Zero took the lead and turned Jude around.

"I want to take off your clothes. Let me," he said. Jude nodded and stood still. The air was charged with anticipation, but not just for the sex they knew was coming. He took off Jude's tie first, let it slither around his arms before tossing it away. The jacket he let drop on the floor. Button by button Jude's dress shirt went, and with each button Zero placed a kiss, a lick, a soft suckle on the skin exposed. Jude was always so warm, and Zero was willing to bet he was already flushing, but the room was dark and lit only by ambient light from outside. He kissed Jude's wrists as he unbuttoned the cuffs, then gently pushed Jude to lie on the bed.

Shoes and socks next, the belt he unbuckled slowly. He unzipped Jude's pants, asked him to raise his ass off the bed, and took the briefs along with the pants and slid them off Jude's legs. There Jude was, and the knowledge that Lucas had this and could toss it away like leftovers made him so incandescently angry that he shook with it.

"Take off yours," Jude said, breathing heavily. "I want to see you too."

Zero was tempted to put on a show then, but that didn't feel right. Not tonight. He took his clothes off like he was changing in a locker room, but it looked like it had the effect he wanted anyway because Jude's cock went from half hard to full mast. He felt his mouth water at the sight. The closet wasn't that long ago, but he felt like it had been years. He crawled up Jude's body, letting his cock touch every part of Jude as he went up, and stopped when they were looking each other in the eye.

"I don't want to call you Zero," Jude said. "It never felt right, and it's absolutely wrong now."

"So try it," Zero said, closing his eyes and already wincing in his head.

Jude held him the way he always did when they kissed -- god, how he missed Jude's hands cupping his face -- and waited until Zero opened his eyes again.

"I love you, Gideon."

Gideon tucked his face on Jude's neck and let his body collapse like all his bones turned to jelly; he knew Jude could take the weight. The air seemed like soup, liquid and hard to breathe, and he has given up so much tonight, so much, and for four words to dismantle him, to be the final blow, wasn't something he was ready for.

"We'll get through this," Jude said. "It will be worth it, I swear."

Gideon believed him.

 

**AHEAD**

His endorsements and career suffer for the first year, and the Bible thumpers protest their games everywhere. Jude stands by him through it all, calls him Gideon all the time and clearly resents that Zero is a brand and trademark on its own, but he works with it. Gideon tries not to like his name as much he actually does when Jude says it, and only Jude can really get away with calling him that. They both make sure only the first year is rough, and that the rest is good to golden.

Lionel gives them an official speech about employers and employees and preferential treatment. Half of the team shield their cocks when he enters the locker room, and this goes on for weeks.

"I have some fucking taste," he yells one day, fed up when a rookie covers himself with a towel when Gideon entered the room. And it's Derek of all people who comes to the rescue, who says that the team is letting something that is none of their business get in the way of winning. They will never be friends, but they become better teammates.

He drops the microphone, which Ellen interviews him about and he clarifies "I'm not actually gay, I'm bisexual," and Ellen jokes that theirs was a love not meant to be.

"It's okay to doubt it, you know," Jude says after the interview. "You just made a huge change. You're going to wonder if everything was worth it. The only thing that matters to me is the choice you make after." Gideon loves him so much in that moment and almost gives him a blowjob right there in Ellen's green room, but restrains himself, opting to kiss the hell out of him instead. They still looked like they had fucked when they walked out of the room though, judging by Ellen's smirk.

They stay together for two years, split up for six months after a raging fight caused by Gideon idly wondering about a threesome that turned into all their insecurities being flung back and forth like poisoned knives -- _Am I not enough? I'm just bored, okay?_. For only the second time in his life, Gideon begs. They get back together, delicate and bruised in every way possible but stronger where it counted.

They're together another year before they split up again, this time with Jude making a seriously stupid mistake in negotiating a deal that puts them in financial jeopardy, all without asking him. He loses it, calls Jude every fucking name in the book because Jude of all people should know better than to handle their money without asking, and kicks him out of their house. Jude comes back, pleading and apologetic, and it takes a month for Gideon to forgive him, a few more to get back to where it's good again. Jude fixed it, and Gideon wondered why he doubted that Jude would.

They make it after that. They make it for a long time, mostly happy.  Gideon thinks they may even take their final bows together, and he can only hope that they go together, or that they follow each other soon enough, as awful as that sounds.  In his mind, he imagines it as the world disappearing and all that's left is a blissful silence where they look at each other, communicate in the silent language of those who have spent most of their lives together and say what needs to be said without saying anything at all. And they go together.

But through all of that, in the bleakest, darkest periods when he begins to doubt, when forgiveness is a trying effort, or the worst, when he feels scared and overwhelmed and wants to leave it all behind, there are memories that push themselves forward in Gideon's head. The ones that make him fight and go on and keep wanting to go on.

All of them have Jude standing by his side.

 

THE END


End file.
